Blurb
Corin Connelly left her past far behind her in New York City. Along with her mother and an ex-boyfriend who had no plans to let her go. Starting over in college in California seemed like a vacation in paradise compared to her old life, and if anyone needs a fresh start, it's her. But her new roommate has a life-threatening secret, and soon paradise becomes even more intense than New York. When she loses a bet to the university soccer team's star goalie, Skylar Martin, he claims a prize she didn't ever plan to give him.
A weekend in her hometown.
Skylar Martin is used to getting what he wants. Growing up in a world of privilege has made his life easy, which is exactly how he likes his women. But when a feisty redhead tells him no, he becomes determined to figure out what makes her tick. And what she's hiding.
Spending a weekend together will change everything they think they know about each other. The closer they become, the harder it is to hide the mistakes they thought they'd left behind--mistakes that will stand in the way of what they both want.
Corin and Skylar will have to stop hiding from the darkness in their pasts if they want a bright future together. But how can you love someone if you can't forgive them?
Excerpt #1
“So Mortal Combat or that racing game you like?”
Skylar makes his pouty face at me. “What is it with you and Mortal Combat? You know the 90’s have passed, right?”
“It’s the only one I can beat you at,” I admit. “So it’s my favorite.”
“For now, right?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He sighs and hands me my controller. “Well, last week that fucking annoying ass Justin Bieber song was your favorite. Then yesterday you changed the channel when it came on—said you were sick of it. Not that I’m complaining.”
I open my mouth to argue but he rushes on.
“Those shoes, the red ones you bought when we went to the mall last week? You kicked them into the back of your closet after wearing them once.”
Geez. Why the sudden interest in my shoes?
“I’m sorry, Sky. Did you want to borrow them?” I smirk, but he levels me with a hard glare. I have no idea why he’s so uptight about footwear.
“You’re missing the point.”
“I didn’t realize there was one.” My mouth is suddenly dry. I thought we were going to hang out and play games like the other night. Clearly something is on his mind.
“You toss everything aside when it stops holding your interest, when the new wears off. You get bored easily.”
“And this is a problem because…”
He smiles, but it doesn’t feel real. “Ever had a bad break up, Corin? Ever been so upset that a relationship ended that you cried yourself to sleep?”
More like I cried because I was in a relationship. “God no. Every break up I ever had was like ‘good riddance.’ You know?”
He nods as if he does in fact know and I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but the arrogance dancing across his face pisses me off.
I narrow my eyes as he returns his attention to the animated players facing off on the screen. “You trying to say something? If you are, go ahead and say it.”
He’s judging me, I think. That really fucking sucks. He was the one person that I never felt like that with, the one that never seemed to judge me. Aside from Layla, and even I see how her eyes go wide sometimes when I say something she finds shocking or appalling. But never Skylar. And now he is.
“Skylar.” I put my controller down because like hell I am hanging out with him if he’s going to be a judgmental prick.
He turns to me with raised brows.
“So I like new stuff, so I don’t wear the same old stuff over and over. Maybe I had to do that my whole life and I hated it. So yeah, I work hard so I can buy red stilettos I’ll only wear once. I don’t need your fucking approval.” My voice breaks, damn him to hell.
I don’t know why his few words feel like needle sticks to my soul but they do. Shoving up off the floor, I snatch my black flats up and prepare to leave. Layla and Landen are in the dorm so I don’t know where I’ll go, but I’ll figure something out.
“Hey,” he says evenly, grabbing my wrist and pulling me down awkwardly into his lap. “Calm down.”
I swallow and resist the urge to bolt. Breathing heavily, I look into his eyes. “What’s with the psychoanalysis, Sky? I do something to make you mad?”
He shakes his head no. “No, babe. You didn’t. I didn’t mean to be an ass about it. I just thought I should warn you.”
I lean back a bit because sitting on top of him like this is doing things to me. I’m tingling everywhere our bodies are touching while he remains perfectly calm and collected. “Warn me about what?”
His lips curl slowly upward and he leans his forehead in until it rests on mine. “I see you, how you are. How things catch your eye briefly before you move on to the next shiny thing before you get too attached.” I wiggle in frustration, but his hands hold me to his lap. “It’s not going to be that easy with me. I just thought you should know.”
“I’ve never had trouble moving on…from anyone.” Not even my own mother, not that he needs to know about her.
“Because you never met anyone worth missing. Until now.”
I huff out a breath, because for some majorly messed up reason, I think he might be right. “Can we just play the damn game, Skylar?” I gesture to the television and he nods.
His lips flatten a bit before he smirks again. “Sure, sweetheart. We can play the game. If that’s what you want.”
Something tells me we aren’t talking about Mortal Combat anymore. My heart is pounding as I slide off of his lap over into my spot. I wipe my sweat slick palms on my jeans and face the screen. Why am I so worked up over this weird ass conversation?
Because you never met anyone worth missing.
Until now.
Excerpt #2
The moment Blondie sees Landen watching her like a hawk, she goes all deer in headlights and spins away from Red before disappearing into the crowd.
Landen mumbles something about being right back and dips out on me as soon as the waitress drops off our beers. More for me, I suppose.
I keep an eye out on my roommate in case he rockets off into another rage-filled fit, but so far he’s just talking with his blonde blast from the past at the bar. Close talking. Her body language says she’s into it, so I return my attention to my drink. “Here we go again,” I mutter under my breath. If the scene taking place at the bar is any indication, I’m in for another night of angst-filled insanity when all I want to do is drink, dance, and get laid. I never intended to be the sidekick to the craziest motherfucker on campus and yet, apparently that has become my lot in life. Clearly the universe is punishing me for getting more than my share of ass in high school. Greed is a sin, after all. So is lust. And gluttony and…whatever. I’m probably going to Hell regardless. My dad’s half Jewish and my mom’s Catholic. Not sure what that makes me but we only attended any kind of services on rare holidays so I’m probably screwed already.
“You saving this one for someone special?”
The voice is feminine and familiar. It warms my blood and turns me on all at once.
Red. Her crimson nails trail the neck of the Bud Light bottle before she lifts it to her similarly stained lips. My cock twitches hard in her direction.
“I was, but I guess he got a better offer.” I nod toward the bar where our roommates are practically taking body shots off one another. “So glad the kids are playing nice this evening.”
“And what about you, Skylar? Do you play nice?”
Her silvery cobalt blue dress reminds me of smoke blown into the dark and hugs her curves in all the right places. I want to lick every inch of her. Twice.
I stand to join her on the dance floor, grabbing my beer as I go. “No, sweetheart. I don’t.”
The tiniest hint of a smile lifts one corner of her mouth. “Then how do you play?”
I lead her onto the floor, pulling her backside close to my front so I can whisper my answer in her ear loud enough to be heard over the music.
“Dirty, Red. I play dirty.”
Excerpt #3
“Night night, kids,” I say before exiting the room and sliding the door shut.
“Sounded like that went well,” Skylar greets me on the other side.
I close my eyes. I’d throw the blanket at him if I wasn’t worried there might be broken glass in it. “I am not smooth,” is all I say.
“What happened?” Skylar points to my right hand, which has a trickle of blood running down the side of it.
I set the blankets and pillows on the futon so I can inspect my wound. “Basically I’m clumsy as hell and incapable of not destroying everything in my path. Picture frame broke.” Blood has never really bothered me but I’m tired and starting to feel a little light-headed.
“Come here,” he says, leading me into the bathroom.
Skylar is surprisingly gentle as he cleans and bandages the minuscule cut on my hand like a pro. I guess being an athlete prepares you for these kinds of things.
“Why are we always getting injured around those two?” I almost laugh. “Seriously, they’re the ones in the angsty relationship and the two of us are just innocent bystanders that keep getting smacked with debris. And we aren’t even the ones getting to have all the hot sweaty college dorm room sex. I feel like we’re getting the raw end of the deal here.”
The affection in Skylar’s hazel eyes turns from sweet, nurturing concern to liquid heat. “You feel ready for hot sweaty sex, sweetheart, you let me know. Dorm room or otherwise.”
Excerpt #4
“You’re like something out of dream,” he says with a voice full of reference. “I don’t deserve you.”
I push him backward until he’s against the wall and remove his clothes strategically, kissing each new part of him that’s revealed to me. “No more talking. No more thinking. No more worries. Not tonight. It will all be there tomorrow.”
He nods but his eyes are still clouded with concern.
“Just be with me tonight, soccer boy. Me and you. No one else. Be with me. Inside me. Make it all go away for tonight.”
I drop to my knees, taking Skylar’s thick length in my hands. He’s hard already, which makes it easier to lose myself in giving him what he needs.
I place gentle licks against the swollen head of him and am rewarded with the taste of his arousal. When I take him all the way to the back of my throat, he groans loudly and lets his head fall back against the wall.
“A fucking dream,” he murmurs when I hollow my cheeks and suck him harder. I add my right hand to the mix, stroking the path I’m taking into my warm wet mouth. My left hand grips his inner thigh and I let my nails scrape lightly against his skin.
His cock jerks in my mouth and just as I’m certain he’s about to come apart, I’m lifted abruptly off the ground and thrown roughly only the bed. He stalks toward me and there is nothing else in the world right now. Just us. Just this. What we both need so badly.
Excerpt #5
Skylar’s jaw clenches and frustration rolls off of him in waves, slamming all around my tiny room with nowhere to go.
“I shouldn’t have been pressuring you, saying the things I was. After everything you’ve—”
“No. Stop.” I put my hand out and touch his arm. “Not the same thing. I get that you thought I was a good time girl—hell, I used to be—so you were trying to get in my pants. We’re attracted to each other and we flirt. Yeah, sometimes it’s a little over the top, but I’m a big girl now. I can handle it. You are nothing like—”
“I’m exactly fucking like him,” Skylar explodes upward, propelling off my bed so hard I’m scared for him. “You moved across the goddamn country to get away from guys like that, guys who only wanted one thing, only to run smack into me. And there I was at every turn trying to convince you to sleep with me.”
I shake my head but I can see that he’s beyond reach. “Still not the same, Sky. You never manipulated or threatened me or made me feel afraid. If I was any other girl, then it wouldn’t even matter.”
“Jesus Christ, Corin. Don’t make excuses for me. How do you even fucking stand me? Because right now, I honestly can’t stand myself.”
With that, Skylar bolts for the door.
“Please don’t,” I call out just before he grabs the knob. “Don’t leave, Sky. Please. I really don’t want to be alone and it’s not exactly safe for you to be walking around at night…in your underwear.”
He eyes meet mine and I can see that he’s torn. He has all this excess energy to burn and nowhere to put it. He’s angry—at me, at himself, at the situation—I can’t be sure. But it’s there, white-hot anger contorting his beautiful, usually carefree features.
“You should slap me. Or knee me in the balls. Something. I deserve some sort of punishment for how I’ve treated you.”
I bite my lip as if contemplating my options, desperate to change the heavy, depressing mood. “I could spank you. Once for each dirty thing you’ve said to me. So…a lot.”

Caisey Quinn lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her vivacious six-year-old daughter. She is the bestselling author of the Neon Dreams series (Avon/William Morrow) and the Kylie Ryans series as well as several New Adult and Contemporary Romance novels. You can find her online at www.caiseyquinnwrites.com and Tweeting entirely too often as @CaiseyQuinn. She is represented by Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Callaghan. A name synonymous with power and fear. A family of untouchable criminals.

As a teenager, Gabriella Forte had no intention of getting to know the town's most dangerous brothers. Once Dustin set his sights on her, she was trapped. There was only one way out of her personal hell.

Declan was determined to break away from his family's shadow. Until he fell in love with the one woman he couldn't have. She changed everything.

Life isn't always kind. Love can hurt. Sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself to protect the people you care about.

It's been twelve years since Declan did the unthinkable and went to prison. He promised to stay away from Gabby and his nephew. That's one vow he can't keep.

Things aren't always what they seem. Facts are only as credible as the person stating them. The truth doesn't always set you free.

Warning: This is a dark romance. If domestic violence bothers you, if you can't read violence in literature, or you are looking for a light and fluffy read, this book is not for you.

Excerpt

My phone pinged, signaling a new text
message, and I looked down, searching through the pain-in-the-ass gigantic bag
that I called a purse. I didn’t slow my pace though, knowing I needed to get
back to the car and on the road if I wanted to make sure I arrived early.
Finally finding my iPhone, I yanked it out and swiped the screen so I could
read the text.

I never saw him.

Instead, I barreled full speed into a
wall of muscle, almost losing my footing as I stumbled backward. A strong hand
closed around my upper arm as the gentleman in front of me steadied me. My head
snapped back in surprise as my free hand landed on his chest, trying to use him
to regain my balance.

The sincere apology died on my lips as my
eyes met the light blue ones I saw every day but never thought I’d look into
again. The eyes that haunted me. “When in the hell did you get out?”

The words were harsh, almost spit at him,
and spoken on instinct alone. If my heart had given my head just one second to
adapt to the surprise of seeing him, I might have been able to form a greeting
that didn’t sound as though I was pissed to find him standing in front of me.
Maybe not.

Declan Callaghan stared at me, eyes
widening as realization hit him. “Little G,” he breathed, almost too quiet for
me to hear. “Jesus, you’re still the most…” He trailed off and dropped my arm
as if it were scorching him and stepped back, obviously putting distance
between us. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “July. I got out in July.”

He could have offered a smile, a “Hey,
how in the hell are ya?” But no. He treated me like a leper he was desperate to
get away from. Considering everything that had happened, I guess that made
sense.

Then his words sank in. July? My heart
pounded so hard, I was positive he could see it. Four months? He’d been home
for four freaking months?

“Seriously?” I snapped, unable to keep my
anger in check.

His eyes searched my face for a moment
before they narrowed on my neck, and I had no doubt he could see my pulse
racing. Declan had always seen more than anyone else. At least when it came to
me.

“You didn’t know,” he muttered.

I shook my head quickly, more to clear
the fog invading my thoughts than to answer his pathetic statement of fact. Of
course I didn’t know. Very few people in my life even knew I was connected to
an infamous criminal, and the people who did obviously didn’t know he was out
either.

Then I realized there were people who
would have known and should have told me.

“I thought they told you.” His eyebrows
knitted together before he jerked his head to the left, the scowl deepening.
“It’s mandatory. The DOC sends a notification of release to all victims.”

Victim. The
word had me straightening up to my full height, all five feet two inches of it,
and stepping back as I fisted my empty hand. Screw him. I couldn’t do this with
him. I wouldn’t. Not again.

About the Author

Carina Adams has been writing and creating characters for as long as she can remember, allowing her to fall in love with the next man of her dreams with every new story.

Thankfully, fate stepped in and granted her the ultimate wish - a life full of men. Carina lives in a picturesque New England town with her husband, the man who ruined the thought of all others, and two amazing sons who always keep her on her toes.

Carina received her MBA in May, but would much rather play with her imaginary friends (the voices in her head) than work her 8 to 5. When she isn’t trying to juggle being a working mom with karate and football practices, surprising her children with her sci-fi movie knowledge, or writing, you can find her with her nose pressed against her kindle, laughing with friends, or living life vicariously as her Derby Girl persona, Writers Block.